As layoffs and budget cuts hit federal agencies, lawmakers explore taking over some public land
Part of the San Rafael Swell outside of Goblin Valley State Park is pictured on Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2019. The San Rafael Swell was identified as a region where the Utah could create a new state park or campground in a recent resolution sponsored by Rep. Steve Eliason, R-Sandy. (Kyle Dunphey/Utah News Dispatch)
Could Utah jointly manage its five national parks with the federal government? What if a stretch of U.S. Forest Service land in Davis County becomes a new state park? Can Little Sahara Recreation Area be transferred to the state's control?
Those are a few of the questions posed in a resolution sponsored by Rep. Steve Eliason, R-Sandy, that passed out of the House Public Utilities and Energy Committee on Tuesday morning. HCR12 received one 'no' vote from Rep. Rosalba Dominguez, D-Murray, and will move to the House for consideration.
As federal land management agencies, which manage about 68% of the entire state, continue to experience layoffs and budget cuts, Eliason and other lawmakers say the state could swoop in to take control of a handful of areas in Utah.
His resolution does the following:
Explores the idea of jointly managing the state's five national parks — Arches, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef and Zion — with the federal government. That would allow the state to 'improve management efficiency and visitor experiences while reducing federal expenditures,' according to the resolution.
Directs the Utah Division of State Parks to work with the U.S. Forest Service to turn the Antelope Flat Campground — located on the southeast side of Flaming Gorge Reservoir — into the Flaming Gorge State Park. 'Flaming Gorge is just a fabulous recreation opportunity in the state, but its access is being limited because of the lack of funding and staffing out of Washington, D.C.,' Eliason said.
Directs the division to explore the idea of either purchasing, leasing or transferring a stretch of U.S. Forest Service Land in the Wasatch Mountains east of Bountiful, Centerville and Farmington. Located along Skyline Drive, local leaders in the area have proposed naming the area Skyline State Park.
Allows the division to work with the Bureau of Land Management to transfer Little Sahara Recreation Area in Juab County to the state. Utah already authorized this transfer through legislation in 2017, but it would require approval from the BLM, which hasn't happened yet.
Directs the division to broadly evaluate 'recreational and scenic locations in the state,' to create new state parks, monuments, and campgrounds, with a focus on the Monte Cristo area south of Bear Lake and state land within the San Rafael Swell near Green River.
The resolution 'urges' Utah's congressional delegation to enact legislation that would create a framework for these land purchases, transfers or joint management agreements to take place.
As of now, the resolution is exploratory. There is no fiscal note, meaning lawmakers don't intend to spend any state funds with the resolution. Eliason called it an attempt to 'gather the facts — what are the costs going to be, what are the challenges?'
The resolution is the latest example of state leaders' interest in controlling federal lands within Utah's borders. That sentiment culminated last year in an ambitious lawsuit filed with the U.S. Supreme Court, where Utah tried to argue that it was unconstitutional for the Bureau of Land Management to hold onto federal land without giving it a formal designation. The high court declined to hear the lawsuit in January.
SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
The reasoning outlined in Eliason's resolution is much different than the lawsuit, and during the committee meeting Tuesday morning he pushed back on concerns that this was an attempt by Utah to take over swaths of public land, including national parks.
The U.S. Department of Interior, under Biden, moved to jointly manage some public land with tribal governments, including Utah's Bears Ears National Monument, and the agreement Eliason is seeking through his resolution would be similar.
'This is not buying or transferring the national parks to Utah. They remain federally designated national parks, but clearly there is a funding void, and the bureaucracy to get things done is immense,' he said.
Eliason said he started working on this resolution before the Trump administration was cutting budgets and laying off thousands of workers with the U.S. Forest Service and National Park Service and other federal agencies with a footprint in Utah. Now, he said, the goal of taking control of federal land is more pressing.
'As a state, we have a choice, if there was some cooperative arrangement made where we could help mitigate those job losses and those lost recreation opportunities,' he said. 'Because I don't see the federal government addressing it anytime in the near future. So we could just complain and say, 'this is really too bad for our citizens and our visitors.' Or we can say, 'is there a way we can step in?''
Some lawmakers urged caution during Tuesday's meeting, including Rep. Carl Albrecht, R-Richfield, who ultimately voted for the bill, but had concerns about the state biting off more than it could chew.
'With the new administration, be prepared for budget cuts. And that's coming true. And that's going to affect the state because the state operates a lot on federal grants,' he said. 'Before we step into the deep water, we need to know how to swim and we need to know where we're headed with some of this stuff.'
SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Federal judge denies 2 bids to halt Oak Flat land transfer for copper mine
A federal judge in Phoenix has denied two motions for preliminary injunctions that sought to halt a land swap that would transfer ownership of Oak Flat, a parcel of U.S. Forest land located 60 miles east of Phoenix, to a company that intends to open a huge copper mine. In a packed courtroom on June 6, U.S. District Judge Dominic W. Lanza heard arguments in two lawsuits seeking to stop the land exchange until the merits of the cases had been heard. The judge also heard from lawyers representing the U.S. Forest Service and Resolution Copper, who asserted that the law requires the government to transfer the federal property to the mining company within 60 days of the publication of a Final Environmental Impact Statement. The government's lawyers indicated that the environmental impact statement would be made available to the public on June 16, but officially published in the federal register on June 20, when the 60-day countdown would begin. The judge set a timeline for the cases after the government publishes the final environmental review. The two lawsuits challenged the environmental review of the land exchange and the value of the land being swapped to the government by Resolution Copper. One lawsuit was brought by the San Carlos Apache Tribe, a federally recognized tribe, and the other by the Inter Tribal Association of Arizona Inc. and a coalition of environmental and outdoor recreation groups including the Arizona Mining Reform Coalition, Earthworks, the Center for Biological Diversity, Access Fund and the Sierra Club Grand Canyon chapter. In May, U.S. District Judge Steven Logan issued an injunction sought by the grassroots group Apache Stronghold to block the land swap. Logan ruled that the federal government could not issue the final environmental impact statement for the exchange, but that order was set to expire if the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Apache Stronghold's request for a review. On May 27, the high court said it would not hear the case. Critical minerals: Why can't the US mine and refine all its copper? What to know about new Trump order The land at the center of the dispute, Oak Flat, also known as Chi'chil Biłdagoteel, is considered sacred to the Apache and other Native peoples and the site of religious ceremonies. It is also a popular site for outdoor recreationists and habitat for rare desert species, like the endangered Arizona hedgehog cactus and ocelot. Beneath the land sits one of the largest copper deposits on the continent, according to Resolution Copper, whose method of underground mining would sink the land into a nearly two mile wide crater approximately 1,000 feet deep. Resolution Copper is a subsidiary of multinational mining companies BHP and Rio Tinto. Oak Flat has been at the center of ongoing debate over First Amendment religious rights, environmental conservation, mining reform and the green energy revolution since Congress authorized the land exchange in 2014. In exchange for about 5,000 acres of ecologically valuable properties around Arizona, Resolution Copper would gain ownership of Oak Flat to create one of the largest copper mines in the country. While Resolution Copper says the mine would create jobs and benefit the local and state economy, environmentalists say the huge copper mine would destroy the environment and deplete ground and surface water. In April, the Trump administration added the proposed Resolution Copper mine, along with nine other mining projects, to a priority list to increase the domestic production of critical minerals in accordance with an executive order issued in March. In May, the U.S. Supreme Court declined the hear the lawsuit brought by Apache Stronghold, despite dissents from Justices Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas. The Apache Stronghold argued that their First Amendment rights to religious freedom were violated by the land exchange. John Leos covers environmental issues for The Arizona Republic and azcentral. Send tips or questions to Environmental coverage on and in The Arizona Republic is supported by a grant from the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust. Follow The Republic environmental reporting team at and @azcenvironment on Facebook and Instagram. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Federal judge denies bid to halt land swap for copper mine at Oak Flat
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Federal judge denies 2 bids to halt Oak Flat land transfer for copper mine
A federal judge in Phoenix has denied two motions for preliminary injunctions that sought to halt a land swap that would transfer ownership of Oak Flat, a parcel of U.S. Forest land located 60 miles east of Phoenix, to a company that intends to open a huge copper mine. In a packed courtroom on June 6, U.S. District Judge Dominic W. Lanza heard arguments in two lawsuits seeking to stop the land exchange until the merits of the cases had been heard. The judge also heard from lawyers representing the U.S. Forest Service and Resolution Copper, who asserted that the law requires the government to transfer the federal property to the mining company within 60 days of the publication of a Final Environmental Impact Statement. The government's lawyers indicated that the environmental impact statement would be made available to the public on June 16, but officially published in the federal register on June 20, when the 60-day countdown would begin. The judge set a timeline for the cases after the government publishes the final environmental review. The two lawsuits challenged the environmental review of the land exchange and the value of the land being swapped to the government by Resolution Copper. One lawsuit was brought by the San Carlos Apache Tribe, a federally recognized tribe, and the other by the Inter Tribal Association of Arizona Inc. and a coalition of environmental and outdoor recreation groups including the Arizona Mining Reform Coalition, Earthworks, the Center for Biological Diversity, Access Fund and the Sierra Club Grand Canyon chapter. In May, U.S. District Judge Steven Logan issued an injunction sought by the grassroots group Apache Stronghold to block the land swap. Logan ruled that the federal government could not issue the final environmental impact statement for the exchange, but that order was set to expire if the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Apache Stronghold's request for a review. On May 27, the high court said it would not hear the case. Critical minerals: Why can't the US mine and refine all its copper? What to know about new Trump order The land at the center of the dispute, Oak Flat, also known as Chi'chil Biłdagoteel, is considered sacred to the Apache and other Native peoples and the site of religious ceremonies. It is also a popular site for outdoor recreationists and habitat for rare desert species, like the endangered Arizona hedgehog cactus and ocelot. Beneath the land sits one of the largest copper deposits on the continent, according to Resolution Copper, whose method of underground mining would sink the land into a nearly two mile wide crater approximately 1,000 feet deep. Resolution Copper is a subsidiary of multinational mining companies BHP and Rio Tinto. Oak Flat has been at the center of ongoing debate over First Amendment religious rights, environmental conservation, mining reform and the green energy revolution since Congress authorized the land exchange in 2014. In exchange for about 5,000 acres of ecologically valuable properties around Arizona, Resolution Copper would gain ownership of Oak Flat to create one of the largest copper mines in the country. While Resolution Copper says the mine would create jobs and benefit the local and state economy, environmentalists say the huge copper mine would destroy the environment and deplete ground and surface water. In April, the Trump administration added the proposed Resolution Copper mine, along with nine other mining projects, to a priority list to increase the domestic production of critical minerals in accordance with an executive order issued in March. In May, the U.S. Supreme Court declined the hear the lawsuit brought by Apache Stronghold, despite dissents from Justices Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas. The Apache Stronghold argued that their First Amendment rights to religious freedom were violated by the land exchange. John Leos covers environmental issues for The Arizona Republic and azcentral. Send tips or questions to Environmental coverage on and in The Arizona Republic is supported by a grant from the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust. Follow The Republic environmental reporting team at and @azcenvironment on Facebook and Instagram. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Federal judge denies bid to halt land swap for copper mine at Oak Flat
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Tech billionaire tapped for head of Forest Service cleared national land to make room for private airstrip: 'Illegally operating an airport'
The man in line to lead the U.S. Forest Service has "clashed" with the agency for years over private use of public lands, the New York Times reported. On Tuesday, the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry held a confirmation hearing to discuss the appointment of Michael Boren, per ABC News. Boren is an Idaho ranch owner and founder of a billion-dollar tech company — and he's had more than one run-in with the Forest Service in recent years as well as confrontations with residents who have objected to his activities. In 2015, Boren purchased his Hell Roaring Ranch, located in the Forest Service-managed Sawtooth National Recreation Area. Boren's run-ins with the Forest Service and locals typically revolved around claims of his "diverting a stream, disputes over how Boren manages land within and around the national forest, and disagreements about the precise locations of mining claims made by Boren's corporation," ABC explained. However, the Times focused on a controversy involving Boren's installation of a "private air strip" in what the outlet described as "a national recreation area." Boren allegedly operated a helicopter "dangerously close to a crew building a Forest Service trail" in 2020 — earning him a caution from the agency and leading officials to obtain a restraining order. Dave Coyner was one of the workers on the crew during the helicopter incident. "We saw this helicopter less than 100 feet off the ground, and it started coming toward us. They were definitely trying to intimidate us," he recalled. "To hear that he's being nominated to be undersecretary of the Forest Service, that just blows me away," Coyner said. The Times linked to a 2021 editorial in the Post Register written by a retired search and rescue operative Gary Gadwa. "Michael Boren, a multimillionaire from Boise, is illegally operating an airport in the Sawtooth Valley without permits," Gadwa wrote. He called on Idaho residents to "halt this dangerous precedent, which threatens one of the most beloved wilderness areas in our state." Boren sued Boise-based Jon Conti for discussing the controversy on YouTube, and Conti was largely reluctant to comment on the broader controversy. "The Sawtooths are the last wild frontier, really untouched, and I think that most Idahoans would like to see it stay that way," Conti remarked, per the Times. Should the government ban gas stoves? Yes Only in new buildings Only in restaurants No way Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
